Innovative State and National Efforts to Collect Child Support

The financial commitment of parents, as well as their involvement with
their children’s upbringing, is very important to the welfare of
children. In recent years, the focus of many State Legislatures has been
to ensure that children receive the support they need even though they
may not live with both of their parents. However, the goal can be problematic
when parents reside in different states. To overcome interstate obstacles
in the field of child support, a majority of the states, as well as the
Federal Government, have recently coordinated their efforts in cases involving
the establishment of paternity, child support orders, medical support,
and enforcement to help parents in
collecting child support.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, with input from a variety
of state child support enforcement offices, has recently developed the
National Electronic Child Support Resource System to assist in the collection
of child support. The goal of the system is to identify and electronically
index resources that are available to parents seeking assistance with
the enforcement of existing support orders. The system provides both the
private user and the child support enforcement employee with access to
a wealth of child support enforcement information including a log of all
active paternity and child support orders within a particular state, a
database of various state laws regarding child support enforcement, and
a centralized communication system between enforcement agencies from different
states. The system also offers a service whereby an agency can locate
a delinquent parent and determine the exact amount of arrears owed.

While the Federal and State governments have coordinated and increased
their efforts to collect on existing child support orders, the penalties
for non-payment remain essentially the same as before. A party who fails
to pay child support may be subject to one or more of the following, even
if that party resides in another state:

driver’s license suspension

bank account seizure

IRS and/or State Revenue tax intercept

interception of lottery winnings

negative credit reports

garnishment of income

loss of professional licenses

jail sentence

In addition to these remedies, if the non-custodial parent’s place
of employment is known, a party can immediately begin wage withholding
from the other parent’s paycheck. If an agency or individual experiences
difficulty in obtaining one of the above sanctions, the national network
now allows them to request assistance with collection of child support
from the other state, whose office will take over the case.

If all civil remedies fail to produce results in the collection of child
support payments, an individual or support enforcement agency may choose
to refer the case to the United States Attorney’s office. The United
States Attorney’s office is responsible for prosecuting cases under
the Federal Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 and the Deadbeat Parent’s
Punishment Act of 1998. Both Acts allow a case to be prosecuted at a federal
level if the case meets certain criteria. The criteria are:

Past due child support must be $5,000.00 or greater

The children must be under the age of majority

All civil remedies have been exhausted at the state level

One of the parties resides outside the state of the original order

No payments of any amount have been received for the past 12 consecutive months

There is evidence that the non-custodial parent had the ability to pay
and willfully failed to do so.

There is proof that the non-custodial parent had knowledge of the child
support obligation

The non-payment of child support across the country has grown to such a
level, that the problem can no longer be ignored. As explained above,
the recent efforts of both Federal and State governments to coordinate
enforcement programs will assist the individual parents by clarifying
and expediting the information in the case. Ultimately, children will
benefit from the efforts when they receive the financial support to which
they are entitled.

See What Our Clients Have To Say

I've been very impressed with Harris Family Law through this whole process.- Pat

Your kids will thank you.- Michael

My lawyer saved me from myself.- Jeff

I’m starting my new life now.- Scott

With help from some great support resources, we are stable, happy, and moving forward to a great new life.- Amy

Once my legal team stepped in, things rapidly began to change.- Anonymous

After hiring my lawyer, I am certain that I made the right choice.- Joel

Your fast responses to all of our questions and your concern for our situation really made us feel at ease.- Chris

I've been very impressed with Harris Family Law through this whole process.- Pat

You have been nothing less than fantastic thank you so much and look forward to never having to work with you in the future- Nate

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Contact Our Colorado
Family Law Firm

If you are in need of a compassionate, skilled, and experienced Colorado
family law attorney, The Harris Law Firm can help. If you have a legal
question about a domestic relations issue, including divorce and the allocation
of parental rights, please complete our contact form below. A member of
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